Tuesday, June 17, 2014

FIR B2B #11: Rewarding Marketers for – Gasp! – Sales Results

Paul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. In this episode:

News & Trends

The collaborative economy presents new opportunities for efficiency by leveraging resources across multiple clients so people, equipment and space don’t go unused. It’s a huge trend that’s being brilliantly documented by Jeremiah Owyang and exemplified by such high profile startups as Airbnb and Uber, and it’s coming to B2B. However, outsourcing your brand to people you may never even meet carries some risks. One company we know employs contract writers through a content marketing agency and has never even met some of the people who have been writing under its brand for years. We think there’s an ugly downside to the sharing economy that B2B executives need to consider.

McKinsey just published research about the digital firm of the future and the need for companies to embrace digital media at every level. Digital isn’t something you can bolt onto the company as an afterthought; it’s central to providing the collaboration that makes your internal processes more efficient and to forming closer bonds with your customers. We know that a lot of companies give lip service to digital integration but few have accomplished it. The recent Innovation report from the New York Times highlighted the fact that even companies that are thought of as leaders can be mired in the past.

Revenue marketing is about tying marketing activities to bottom-line revenue. Debbie notes that few marketers actually understand the sales organizations they serve. When incentives and organizational goals are tied to sales, then everybody becomes part of the marketing picture. There are two kinds of CMO’s, she says: those who put their heads in the sand and treat digital as a set of new toys, and those who understand that revenue marketing is a way for CMOs to gain a seat back at the executive table.

Marketing is undergoing a transformation that is no less dramatic than the one that took marketers from index cards to CRM systems. Many marketers are still stuck in the traditional creative role, but analytics has taken center stage and Debbie believes it requires a new set of skills. Bottom line, though: There’s never been a better time to be a marketer.

Paul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

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